Medical Centre

Mission Statement:

Our mission is to provide the highest standard of patient care incorporating a holistic approach toward diagnosis and management of illness. This practice is committed to promoting wellness and disease prevention to all patients. We do not discriminate in the provision of excellent care and aim to treat all patients with due respect.

General Information:

Clifton Medical Practice is an GPA Accredited Practice and is certified by Queensland Rural Medical Education (QRME) and General Practitioners Training Queensland (GPTQ) as an Accredited Primary Rural and Remote teaching post in accordance with the standards published by The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.

We are a Bulk Billing practice and offer many services to meet the needs of our patients. We have the services of a full time Registered Nurse.

Hours of Service:

Monday to Friday

8.30am – 5pm (By Appointment Only)

Doctors currently providing care:

Prof. Scott Kitchener

Dr Francisco Rodriguez-Letters

Dr Rob Marcok

Dr Andrew Choo

Dr (Marilyn) Chia Yee Hsu

Dr Desiree Tee

Dr Joanna Pappas

APPOINTMENTS

Appointments can be made by telephoning the practice on Ph. 4697 3097 and we will do our best to find a suitable appointment for you. We would appreciate if you are unable to attend your appointment to please call and notify the practice as soon as practical. We are happy to accept new patients to the practice.

Our reception staff will endeavour to contact you if there is an unforeseen delay, or your doctor has been called away.

If you require additional time with your doctor it is important that you inform the receptionist when you make your appointment, as longer consultations are available for more complex problems.

Please also note a nurse may be required for some services in conjunction with your Doctor’s appointment. In this way we are better able to reduce waiting times. Reception staff may also need to ask you questions to ensure your medical needs are being met in a timely manner. This is part of our triage process and is not meant to be intrusive. If reception staff require further clinical assistance we will transfer you through to the nurse.

Our surgery will make every effort to give you an appointment with the Doctor of your choice, however, this may not always be possible . In these cases, our staff will endeavour to give you an appointment with another Doctor within the practice.

We offer all routine childhood immunisations. It will help enormously if you inform the receptionist at the time of making your appointment. All medical and minor operations require additional time, so again it will help you and us if you could mention this when booking in.

Getting the most from your Appointment:

1. Have a clear idea of what you hope to cover.

2. A list of all the medication you are taking, including prescription, non-prescription and herbal Check the number of repeat scripts you still have, so these can be updated if necessary. If it’s your first time with this GP, be prepared to give a family history.

3. If you think you need more than 15 minutes with your GP (e.g. if you want to cover more than one issue), please book a long appointment with the receptionist to avoid any disappointment.

4. If you wish to deal with several separate issues (e.g. Pap smear, full skin check, immunisation) consider making a separate appointment for each issue. Also a nurse may be required for some services, please let reception know as this needs to be booked in conjunction with your Doctor’s appointment.

5. Ask the Doctor to write down specific directions about which you may be unsure.

6. Each person seeing the Doctor needs their own separate appointment.

7. At the end of the consultation be clear whether a follow-up appointment is required.

8. Do not be afraid or embarrassed to tell your Doctor anything.

Telephone Calls:

Our Doctors have requested that they not be interrupted during a consultation with non-urgent telephone calls. If the receptionists or the nurse cannot help you with your inquiry a message can be taken for your Doctor.

National Privacy Principles:

Our practice complies with both laws and the National and Health Privacy Principles (NPPs). This act gives individuals the right to know what information a private sector organization holds about them, the right to access this information and also make corrections if they consider data is incorrect.

Sick Certificates:

A certificate may only be issued after an examination by a Doctor, so pease make an appointment for this.

AFTER HOURS

If out-of-hours medical services are required, you have a number of suitable options to choose from:

Please telephone the Clifton Co-operative Hospital on Ph. 4697 3377 to speak with a Registered Nurse

Dial 000 for Medical Emergencies

GP helpline – Ph. 1800 022 222 to speak to a Registered Nurse

PRESCRIPTIONS

In order to monitor your health and fulfil our ethical and legal responsibilities, we require that you attend a Doctor’s appointment in order to received further prescriptions for your medications.

The supply of scripts outside of consultation is at the discretion of your Doctor and could incur a fee of $15.00 which is payable on collection of your script. Doctors may request an appointment before a script is given. This practice does not prescribe Narcotics S8 drugs to any new patients.

TEST RESULTS

We encourage you to call for test results. We do have a recall system but we encourage you to contact the practice if you are concerned or have not been contacted about your results.

Test results, once viewed by the Doctor, are available from reception or the nurse. Our staff will be able to advise you of normal results or advise if a further appointment has been requested by the Doctor to discuss your results with you.

REFERRALS TO SPECIALISTS:

The back dating of referrals is illegal and subject to a substantial fine for the Doctor who backdates a referral. It is a Medicare requirement that referrals can only be written during the course of a consultation. Substantial penalties apply for any General Practitioner convicted of writing referrals outside of a consultation. You are able to consult a specialist without a referral, however, you will be unable to claim a full rebate from Medicare.

It is important to note that visiting a specialist will often incur out of pocket charges. Costs associated with visiting specialists vary. We recommend you enquire about out of pocket charges when you make appointments with specialist's rooms.

Home, Hospital and Nursing Home Visits:

Visits to patients at home, in Hospital & Nursing Homes may be arranged at the discretion of your regular treating Doctor.

Medical & Nursing Students

We regularly host Medical & Nursing Students at the practice. A team member will advise you if a Student is present. If you do not wish the Student to sit in on your consultation please advise the Receptionist or Doctor.

Reminder Systems:

We participate in National & State reminder systems, e.g. for pap smears, immunisations and other tests and follow-up as deemed necessary by our Doctors. Please advise your Doctor if you do not wish to participate in these schemes.

BILLING ARRANGEMENTS

We are a bulk billing practice. This means that there are no out of pocket expenses incurred by patients for regular consultations.

Services:

Women’s/Men’s Health

Mental Health

ATSI Health

Immunisations/Flu vaccinations

Antenatal care

Drivers Licence

Travel Medicine

Full Skin Check

Minor Surgery

Asthma Care

Annual Health Assessments and associated community care

Spirometry

Electrocardiographs (ECG)

Care Plans

However certain appointment types will incur a fee payable at the time of consultation. An example of such appointments:

Commercial Drivers Licence

Pre-Employment Medicals

Sports Medicals

Insurance Medicals

If you do not hold a current Medicare card unfortunately a fee will be payable at time of service. Fees can be obtained by calling the Practice Manager on: 46973 097.

Workers Compensation accounts will be billed to Qld Work Cover or your employer, however, should liability not be accepted for the injury, then the account will be your responsibility. The letter of acceptance will be required before billing to a private company or business.

Interpreter Service:

Whatever your preferred language, we can help you organise an interpreter through Translating & Interpreting Service (TIS) to assist with any language barriers. We also arrange interpreters through National Auslan Interpreter Service (NABS) for our hearing impaired patients.

Patient Feedback and Complaints:

We genuinely wish to hear from you. From time to time this practice invites patients to complete questionnaires on their views of the practice and how it can be improved. These surveys are completed confidentially and help us improve our services. We believe that problems are best dealt with through the practice. Please contact the Practice Manager if you have any concerns.

Updating Your Personal Details

At each visit we will check your personal details, this is to ensure the accuracy of your patient information eg. Your name, address, date of birth and best contact number. You may be a long standing patient of this practice but it is our legal responsibility. Please ensure you bring with you your current Medicare card and any concession cards that you may hold.